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PSD to HTML is Dead

blog.teamtreehouse.com

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Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#161

Post by welly »

goggles99 wrote: post #126

Link bait warning. Author even admits in the comments that what he means is "Going directly from a PSD to an HTML file is dead". Link bait may get you more traffic in the short turn, but will likely just hurt you in the long run. Especially since lots of people think that he an idiot now. Why? Who would have thought... Modern day web dev needs to be rendered to different sized screens and we have CSS3, more skills, a…

> Of course no one expects anymore (did they ever?) that it will be pixel perfect across devices ETC.

Yes, yes they do and did. Clients are those who expect it to be pixel perfect.

I won't go into the numerous times over the years I've had a screenshot pasted into a Word document from a client saying "this is two pixels too high".

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#162

Post by Quarrelsome »

IgorPartola wrote: post #16

Rant to follow: So I have done a fair share of PSD to HTML, PSD to WordPress theme, PSD to application web GUI, etc. rewrites. I generally have no problem with the concept of this, and got quite good at this. However, there are some real pet peeves that keep coming up in this workflow, that are really driving me crazy. If you are a designer working with a developer, and you happen to read this, at least please consid…

> But also give me what a form submission error looks like.

I've been waiting over three months now for my designer to give me this. I mention it every time I see them and it never gets done.

Do they like my awful pink error boxes or just avoid errors when demoing???

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#163

Post by chrissyb »

sgustard wrote: post #109
reuven wrote: post #9

It drives me totally batty to work on projects in which the designer assumes that their only responsibility is to provide a PSD file, which the developers will then turn into HTML and CSS. I want to work not just with designers, but with Web designers, who intimately understand the workings of HTML, CSS, some JavaScript, and the implications for different browser sizes and versions. Web designers speak HTML/CSS nativ…

A good analogy is an architect (of buildings) who doesn't know structural engineering. Yes, they don't have the degree, but basic knowledge of behavior of materials, how buildings don't fall down, and so on, are the difference between pretty drawings and actual buildable designs.

I'd have to somewhat disagree with this, Architecture is a philosophical pursuit and Engineering is physics. The two professions coexist but remain separate for accountability.

Maybe a better way of putting it might be ~ An Architect who can only conceptualize in 2D, therefore missing the opportunity to fully develop their designs in 3D.

And FWIW the only pretty drawings in my eyes are buildable designs! :)

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#164

Post by Bahamut »

grey-area wrote: post #95
pyre wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, there's two things at play here. The complexity of the CSS model in the browser (plus all the browser-specific quirks) and the CSS syntax. Less only solves the CSS syntax issue. My reading of this thread is that it was started based on the complexity of dealing with CSS in the browser rather than dealing with the CSS syntax.

CSS also has serious issues with its design (not just syntax) - it's a pretty awful markup language, because it was created apparently without reference to hundreds of years of graphic design and text layout and missed out some essential typographic and design concepts. To pick a few examples, until recently you couldn't have grids, multiple columns of text (still pretty broken), embedded fonts, and the box model is…

The slowness is largely due to competing interests & implementations by those interests. I don't think blowing away CSS completely would be a good solution - just look at the skepticism by many over Google trying to implement Dart in Chrome, and whether it'd be successful in eliminating JavaScript.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#165

Post by IgorPartola »

Quarrelsome wrote: post #162
IgorPartola wrote: post #16

Rant to follow: So I have done a fair share of PSD to HTML, PSD to WordPress theme, PSD to application web GUI, etc. rewrites. I generally have no problem with the concept of this, and got quite good at this. However, there are some real pet peeves that keep coming up in this workflow, that are really driving me crazy. If you are a designer working with a developer, and you happen to read this, at least please consid…

> But also give me what a form submission error looks like. I've been waiting over three months now for my designer to give me this. I mention it every time I see them and it never gets done. Do they like my awful pink error boxes or just avoid errors when demoing???

My favorite was this nice redesign I did where the form fields had no labels. Instead the designer cleverly used placeholders on input elements to identify them. Moreover they had a great deal of customization for each form to make them look nice and compact. At first glance this looked fantastic, until you try to add an error message to it.

I pointed this out to them, and their first inclination was to highlight the border of the errored out elements in red. Great, except for the large minority of users who are color blind. Also, this doesn't indicate what the error is, just that there is one. On top of that, form-wide (vs field-specific) errors still don't have a place.

This drives me crazy, because it's not like I can logically extend their design and say "let's put the errors here. What do you think?" Their design was so tight (in a good way I suppose) that it left no room for this kind of thing.

My suggestion is to make your version so ugly that it cannot be overlooked. Put the errors in size 72 font in neon green right over the fields. No way for it to go into production that way.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#166

Post by grey-area »

Bahamut wrote: post #164
grey-area wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CSS also has serious issues with its design (not just syntax) - it's a pretty awful markup language, because it was created apparently without reference to hundreds of years of graphic design and text layout and missed out some essential typographic and design concepts. To pick a few examples, until recently you couldn't have grids, multiple columns of text (still pretty broken), embedded fonts, and the box model is…

The slowness is largely due to competing interests & implementations by those interests. I don't think blowing away CSS completely would be a good solution - just look at the skepticism by many over Google trying to implement Dart in Chrome, and whether it'd be successful in eliminating JavaScript.

I don't think blowing away CSS completely would be a good solution

Sure, it's not all bad, it got off to a pretty flawed start, but has been steadily improving.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#167

Post by theorique »

tethis wrote: post #154
wpietri wrote: post #26

And thank goodness. If anybody knows where the grave is, I'd like to go piss on it. As somebody who long ago did print design, I totally get why designers would want pixel-perfect control. It is awesome, but you get that in print because you are physically manufacturing an object and sending it to people. The web was device independent from the get-go. It wasn't your paper anymore; it was their screens. There were a…

Let me know when you find that grave, because I'll join you after eating a huge bowl of chilli.

Nice image. Thanks.

(upvote nonetheless)

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#169

Post by reneherse »

dpeck wrote: post #153
reneherse wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great writing. But as someone who also came from a different design field, I'm not sure it's obvious to new designers where and what they should start learning. It would have been great if the author had identified tools for a replacement workflow (though I'm sure Treehouse must get more into that elsewhere on their site). I came into the world of UX and UI design by way of architecture, and it was quite a while unti…

Minor thing, but if you like HAML check out Slim. Very similar and does some things a little nicer.

Thanks for the tip! The syntax seems quite a bit cleaner.

Re: PSD to HTML is Dead

#170

Post by Quarrelsome »

IgorPartola wrote: post #165
Quarrelsome wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But also give me what a form submission error looks like. I've been waiting over three months now for my designer to give me this. I mention it every time I see them and it never gets done. Do they like my awful pink error boxes or just avoid errors when demoing???

My favorite was this nice redesign I did where the form fields had no labels. Instead the designer cleverly used placeholders on input elements to identify them. Moreover they had a great deal of customization for each form to make them look nice and compact. At first glance this looked fantastic, until you try to add an error message to it. I pointed this out to them, and their first inclination was to highlight the…

you're describing my exact scenario here.
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